If You Do Something Stupid, Double Down

In this instance, speaking of Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, who, as you will remember, fired the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt for trying to take care of his crew. Well, he outdid himself this morning:

The Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly blasted the now ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as "stupid" in an address to the ship's crew Monday morning, in remarks obtained by CNN.

Modly told the crew that their former commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, was either "too naive or too stupid" to be in command or that he intentionally leaked to the media a memo in which he warned about coronavirus spreading aboard the aircraft carrier and urged action to save his sailors.

The acting secretary accused Crozier of committing a "betrayal" and creating a "big controversy" in Washington by disseminating the warning so widely.

The only betrayal is that Trump didn't look good. (t'[s still unconfirmed, but the word is that the firing originated with Trump.)

This is the crew that cheered Capt. Crozier as he left the ship. Modly must have a death wish -- except that those who are really serving have too much respect for the service.

And what are the odds that this is another distraction to throw into the mix. There is, after all, an election coming up, and you can bet Trump is shitting bricks over his chances of winning another term.

If you're still wondering what kind of human being -- and I use the term in its biological sense -- Modly is, note this from arch-conservative Bill Kristol:

Perhaps worth remembering that Modly is Acting Secretary because he, unlike his predecessor, had no problem acquiescing to Trump's pardoning war criminals.https://t.co/gq25wnggn3

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 6, 2020

Via Joe,.My.God.,

Wham! One For Our Side

It looks like the Senate hasn't managed to fill enough judgeships with Trump cultists.

The Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Friday afternoon ordered the Department of Justice to hand over the unredacted Mueller report and underlying materials requested by the House Judiciary Committee months ago. The 75-page ruling by Judge Beryl Howell (photo) is a being called a “stunning rebuke” to the DOJ that is leaving some experts surprised and even somewhat shocked.

The ruling also destroys the fallacious argument made by President Trump and Republicans that the House impeachment inquiry is not an actual impeachment. Judge Howell says it absolutely is. Republicans, including administration officials, have refused to respond to requests by the House for documents, and even subpoenas commanding testimony, claiming because the full House did not vote on holding the impeachment inquiry it is, as some on the right claim falsely, a “witch hunt” that can be ignored.

They are wrong.

Judge Howell has successfully accomplished several things. She delivers effective explanations deriding the DOJ’s arguments, she effectively certifies the House’s impeachment inquiry, and she shows just how amateur – or inept – the Barr DOJ has become.

Twitter, or course, is all over this, and most of the commenters include quotes from the decision. Some of them are really on the nose. Here's one example, from Marcy Wheeler:

Howell goes all School House Rock on DOJ, which apparently needs a basic lesson in American history. pic.twitter.com/gP8KrzEF8U

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) October 25, 2019

It's worth reading the whole post for some of the comments on Twitter.

Barr, of course, will appeal to Trump's tame Supreme Court. It that fails, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the regime declares that it is not bound by court decisions. That's where we're headed.

Truth To Power

As he says, this is why GOP reps didn't want to do town halls on healthcare:

This is why Republican lawmakers feared doing healthcare townhalls. pic.twitter.com/zmywZNXkl0

— Adam (@Khanoisseur) October 20, 2018

With thanks to commenter John Davenport at Joe.My.God.